South African journalist, editor, writer and educator
Niq Mhlongo (born 10 June 1973) is a South African journalist, editor, writer and educator.
Early life and education
Mhlongo was born in Midway-Chiawelo, Soweto, the seventh of nine children, and raised in Soweto. His father, who died when Mhlongo was a teenager, worked as a post-office sweeper. Mhlongo was sent to Limpopo Province, the province his mother came from, to finish high school. Initially failing his matriculation exam in October 1990,[1] Mhlongo completed his matric at Malenga High School in 1991.
He studied African literature and political studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, gaining a BA in 1996. In 1997, he enrolled to study law there, transferring to the University of Cape Town the following year. In 2000, he discontinued university study to write his first novel, Dog Eat Dog.[2]
Writing
Mhlongo was described by Rachel Donadio in The New York Times as "one of the most high-spirited and irreverent new voices of South Africa's post-apartheid literary scene".[1]
Mhlongo has presented his work at the Caine Prize Workshop and the Zanzibar International Film Festival, and was a 2008 International Writing Program fellow at the University of Iowa.[3] His work has been translated into Spanish, German, French, Dutch, and Italian.
Mhlongo's writing has a post-apartheid backdrop. He is influenced by his hometown of Soweto; he pens his novels in Soweto, about Soweto and in Soweto dialect. His book Way Back Home was launched in Soweto. Xenophobia is another theme explored in Mhlongo's work.[4]
